Neglected whippet on brink of death left so hungry she ate her own tail

dailystar.co.uk:

dog who was so badly neglected and malnourished that she even resorted to eating her own tail has made a remarkable recovery.It has taken months of love and care to transform Poppy, a two-year-old lurcher-whippet cross, from an incredibly thin soul, teetering on the edge of death and covered in lesions, to a bright-eyed and bushy-tailed pooch she is now.But roll back the clock a few months and following an inspection by a vet, Poppy was found to be so underweight that an injury to the tip of her tail could have been caused by her eating it due to extreme hunger, Staffordshire Live reports.READ MORE: Peter Kay fans go wild as comedian makes rare appearance at charity show after break Her owner was prosecuted by the RSPCA and banned from keeping animals for three years after she admitted to neglecting her pet.However, Poppy is still searching for a new home and a chance to enjoy life outside of kennels, and is currently staying at Alsager Animals in Need in Cheshire.Assistant animal co-ordinator Lisa Williams said: “Poppy was given a body score of one out of nine by the vet who treated her and we were very concerned that she wouldn’t make it through the night when she first came into our care – she could barely put one foot in front of the other.“Her legs were bent and twisted and because it was so cold and she had so little body fat, we put her under a heat lamp to keep her warm.“She’s a very brave girl and has battled a long list of other health issues since – a perforated eardrum, a phantom pregnancy, a large abscess on her spine, two partial tail amputations, two ear hematomas, the removal of cysts on her teats and on-going issues with her skin.To stay up to date with all the latest news, make sure you sign up to one.